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Since assuming sole ownership of the Mezza Luna Restaurant in East Cobb in 2023, Daniele Furfaro has added his own personal touch to everything: From menu items to a remodeled dining room to the family atmosphere that he wants diners to enjoy—as well as his own name.
In rebranding what’s now known as the Mezza Luna Furfaro Italian Restaurant and Bar, the Calabria-born Furfaro is emphasizing community ties as well in serving lunch and dinner seven days a week.
Specialty dishes include veal chop gorgonzola, butter squash ravioli, gnocchi al pesto with blue crab meat and salmon piccata, as well as starters, soups, salads and a wide variety of desserts, wines and cocktails.
“This is a family-owned restaurant,” Furfaro says, noting that his wife, Bella, also a native of Italy, oversaw the dining room upgrade, even down to the choice of dinner plates and silverware.
“A lot of our customers come back with their friends,” he added.
Furfaro and his family will soon putting down roots in East Cobb to further invest in the restaurant and the community.
They are the parents of daughters, ages 10, 5 and one and a half, and are in the process of moving from Woodstock, where he previously was a chef.
Many of those Furfaro knew from his previous restaurants have followed him to Mezza Luna, located in the Pavilions at East Lake (2100 Roswell Road, Suite 2198). He also was a chef at Dolce, an Italian restaurant in Buckhead.
He wants the East Cobb community to experience the distinctive food and ambience of Mezza Luna. Furfaro is the chef as well as the owner. Everything is freshly made on the premises and many food items are sourced locally as well as from Italy.
Trained at an Italian culinary school, Furfaro worked in the American corporate restaurant industry, which brought him to Atlanta. He became a partner in Mezza Luna, then took over the East Cobb restaurant in 2023 (it remains independent from the Mezza Luna restaurant in Smyrna).
As the dining room was overhauled, Furfaro amplified the menu to reflect “a mix of Italy.” Meat dishes like chicken marsala are traditionally served in northern Italy, while seafood dishes like branzino, sea bass seared in a lemon butter sauce, are standard in the south.
Diners can choose from an offering of appetizers, including blue crab cakes and calamari fritti, tomato bisque soup and salads. All meals come with generous baskets of fresh bread. There’s also a menu fearing pizza, pasta and meatballs with children in mind.
Furfaro changes the menu every three months or so to reflect seasonal favorites, but “I also keep a few dishes all year” that are popular Italian-American fare.
“If you love chicken parmigiana, you can get chicken parmigiana,” Furfaro says. His diners rate the surf and turf and lamb and veal dishes as among their favorites.
“People like to come and feel they’re at home,” Furfaro says.
“I’ve put my life and my heart into this place, and I want people in East Cobb to come and try us.”
Mezza Luna is open Monday-Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 5-9 p.m, Friday-Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 12-9 p.m.
Reservations are accepted, and online ordering and catering are also available.
For information, visit the Mezza Luna website or call 678-214-5856.
Click the middle button below to see more of Mezza Luna’s menu items and the dining room.
